STURBRIDGE - Holyoke Catholic's nickname is the Gaels, but it should be gale. Better still, make that hurricane.

Whatever you call it, it was an ill wind for Hopedale. The Gaels hit Hopedale's Blue Raiders in full force, whooshing to a 93-91 win in the state Division 3 boys semifinal at Tantasqua Regional Junior High.

Hopedale had to travel farther than the visitors for this home game and made almost as long a trip in the game, coming back from a 19-point hole in the final seven minutes to make the finish as frantic as the rest of it was.

Put 1,200 people in a 1,000-seat gym, add two teams who think the game is a 40-yard dash, and run it like the Rocket, and you get the kind of game that produces March Madness.

STRETCH DRIVE

Holyoke Catholic, now 19-5, advances to Saturday's final at 12:30 p.m. in the Worcester Centrum against Wayland. Hopedale, after winning the Clark and District titles in six straight tournament games, goes home with a 19-4 record and the satisfaction that it ran better from the quarter pole than Secretariat.

"They were shooting it up quick and that gave us a chance to come back," said Hopedale coach Don Klocek. Although saddled with foul problems and losing three players, the Blue Raiders turned a 75-56 blowout into a seat squirmer. First they came up with a 9-2 run to make it 77-65, then they tacked on another burst and it was 79-73 and the place was rocking.

"We did what we had to do at the end, foul, and that number 20 (the Gaels' Kevin Kudla) give him credit, he made the shots. Kudla was eight of 11 from the line in a 24-point night, making the final four points for Holyoke Catholic, including two with 14 seconds left (93-88).

DRAMA NOT OVER

The drama wasn't over, though, as Tim Mooradian, a hero all night for Hopedale, swished a three with five seconds left. Hopedale's press couldn't come up with any magic and it was over. Mooradian finished with 30 points, 9 in the last 1:04. Smooth lefty Chris Tatrie was another Blue Raider who kept coming up big, 21 points, while foul-plagued Shawn Atherton still managed 18.

The Gaels turned this one around with nine straight points in the final 2:20 of the first half to pull even, 38-38 at intermission. Then they shot about 80 per cent over the first 10 minutes of the second half, including a big 14-point bundle by center Shaun O'Brien. O'Brien then sat for a stretch with four fouls. Just about that time Hopedale was catching its second breath and the Gaels were downgraded to a light breeze.

O'Brien, pigeon-toed, heavy-legged, not as tall as his listed 6-3, facing a 6-8, 6-5, 6-4 frontcourt, showed a combination of muscle and finesse in a back-breaking 27-point game.

"We got excited at the end of the first half. We wanted to take the air out of the ball, but we got a little impatient, that hurt and that 31 (O'Brien) really hurt us," said Klocek, noting that Holyoke Catholic, mainly in the person of O'Brien, kept beating his 2-3 zone.

"He doesn't look like a player, does he, but he sure is," said Klocek.

"That's a benefit to me," smiled O'Brien of his appearance.

"I was like a magnet tonight, the ball was just coming off the rim into my hands. I knew my job would be a lot tougher inside against them but I wasn't going to change my game."

"He doesn't worry about size," said Holyoke Catholic coach Bob Prattico. who said he thought about slowing down his racehorses with five minutes left, but remembered the first half. "When we slowed down in the first half (after taking a 14-6 lead), that's what got them back into it. We came to run, to push, to penetrate, that was our plan of attack."

They never stopped attacking.

The big advantage O'Brien has, said his coach, is his left hand. "Everyone overplays me to the right, they expect me to go right," said the left-handed O'Brien who pulled a neck muscle in the second half but kept throwing in rebound baskets.

The next right he takes will take him to the Centrum.

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HOPEDALE HOT, UXBRIDGE NOT
RAIDERS TAKE 15TH IN LAST 16

Bill Ballou
March 10, 1991

For the second time in six years, the Hopedale Blue Raiders have hit the Monthly Double.

Two weeks ago, Hopedale captured the Clark Tournament Small Schools crown. Yesterday at WPI, the Blue Raiders won the District E, Division 3 boys title with a 64-46 victory over Uxbridge.

Hopedale will play Holyoke Catholic (18-5) in the state semifinals Wednesday.

"I think it's very difficult for a team to play six tournament games in a row," said Hopedale coach Don Klocek. "A team can go flat, lose its emotion. This one didn't. At least I think it didn't. They don't say an awful lot, so sometimes it's hard for me to tell."

WON BOTH IN '85

The Blue Raiders also won both Clark and district titles in 1985.

Yesterday, Hopedale (19-4) scored the game's first 5 points and never trailed. Winners of 15 of their last 16 games, the Blue Raiders got strong games from a battalion of people, but particularly from forward Shawn Atherton and guard Tim Mooradian.

Atherton had 15 points and rebounded fiercely at both ends. Mooradian's 16 points topped all scorers. His ballhandling and defensive play were both superb.

Hopedale used its height advantage nicely and Uxbridge, forced to the outside, shot as poorly as a team can shoot.

"We lived by the jumper this year," said Spartans coach Mark Donahue, "and today we died by it."

OUTSCORED 28-8

Uxbridge, for instance, was just 8-for-31 in the second half, during which it was outscored, 36-23. But most of those 8 successes came in the final minutes, after the outcome had been decided. The Spartans hit just 3 field goals in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the second half.

In that span, Hopedale outscored Uxbridge, 28-8.

"I think the big factor in the game was our size," said Klocek. "We were able to pack the inside, put (Uxbridge) on the perimeter, and they were cold."

Donahue sighed his agreement.

"Their size forced us maybe a step outside," he said. "They sort of smothered our offense. Their defense - extending the zone and playing man-to-man - took us out of our offense, threw our patterns off."

Uxbridge (16-5) lost in a Clark quarterfinal game to Hopedale earlier this year. The Spartans yesterday got 12 points from David O'Toole, 10 from Marc Calarese.

9-POINT RUN

When intermission arrived, they were very much in the game. Dan Antonellis' 14-foot jumper at the buzzer gave Hopedale a 28-23 halftime lead, but Uxbridge had trailed by 5 in its semifinal victory over Nipmuc and the deficit was hardly intimidating.

What was intimidating was the way Hopedale opened the second half.

The Blue Raiders scored the first 9 points of the half - 4 by Atherton, 2 by Antonellis and a 3-pointer by Mooradian to cap the run - and the lead was 14. It was never less than 12 the rest of the day.

"We needed to come out at the beginning of the second half, get it going and get hot," said Donahue, "but ..."

"It was anybody's game at the half," said Klocek. "If (Uxbridge) had come out, hit the first couple of shots, then we're nip-and-tuck all the way. But a team plays a lot smoother with a lead, especially in tournament play."

The Blue Raiders, who have smoothed their way through six straight tournament games, have to get up for at least one more.

Nobody seems to mind too much.

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HOPEDALE EDGES BMR

Bill Ballou
March 5, 1991

There are holes, there are trenches, there are craters. And there is Death Valley, which is where Hopedale put Blackstone-Millville in the opening minutes of last night's Division 3 boys semifinal.

The Blue Raiders rocketed out to an 18-1 lead, then coasted - well, not quite - let's say eased to a 70-64 victory at WPI.

"That early start put us in a good position," understated Hopedale coach Don Klocek. "We knew (Blackstone-Millville) would make a run at us, but a run like the one we made, that allows you to recover from mistakes you might make later on."

Hopedale is 18-4 and the reigning Clark Tournament Small Schools champ. The Blue Raiders play Uxbridge in the tourney finals Saturday. They have a chance to win their second district boys title, first since 1985.

Chris Tattrie paced Hopedale with 22 points, most of them from underneath as the taller Blue Raiders dominated in close. Tattrie had 14 in the first half, which Hopedale owned, 38-20. Tim Mooradian added 13 points and played a strong two-way game, Shawn Atherton had 12 points and Jason Bucell 11.

Blackstone-Millville didn't score a basket until Jeff Levasseur's layup dropped 6 1/2 minutes into the first half. That made it 18-3 and it eventually became 18-7, as close as the Chargers would come until midway through the second half.

They made the run that Klocek expected with about 8 minutes left, Brian LaRouche's 3-pointer with 7:32 to go cutting the Hopedale lead to 56-47. The closest it got was 60-55 with 5:04 left, Adam Dumais sinking a pair of free throws for Blackstone-Millville.

"We certainly got hit with a haymaker early on," said Chargers' coach Brad Monroe. "When you fall behind like that, you can't diagram it. If the kids come back, it has to come from inside them. And we did that. I'm pleased with the way we came back."

Michael Trudel led the Chargers with 21 points. Dumais, smallest man on the floor, added 18.

Blackstone-Millville finished the year at 14-5 even though it lost to only two teams, Nipmuc and Hopedale. Problem was, the Chargers lost four games to the Blue Raiders.

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ATHERTON FREE THROWS LIFT HOPEDALE

Tim Benison
February 23, 1991

If you asked Hopedale's Shawn Atherton who the "go-to guy' on his team is in crucial situations, he wouldn't even flinch.

"It's usually not me," said the senior forward right after he canned two free throws with twenty-three seconds left to lift the Raiders, 16-4, past Blackstone-Millville 61-59 to win the Clark Tournament Small School Championship last night.

Southbridge faces North Middlesex at 7:45 tonight in the Large Schools final.

TOOK IT AWAY

"At the end, I just had open shots, so I took them. We came here to win and we ended up taking it away from them."

It was Atherton's free throws that won it, but it was a missed one-and-one with six seconds left by teammate Dan Antonellis that could have sealed it. Instead, BMR, 13-4, had one final chance for the win, but a Pat Verhoest three-pointer sailed wide at the buzzer and Atherton could breathe a sigh of relief.

"I held my breath on that last shot, he added." They weren't going for the tie, that is for sure."

"This was just a great game," said Hopedale coach Don Klocek. "I anticipated a close game because we played and beat them twice in close games during the regular season. But this game had a great finish and we'll cherish it for a long time."

In the end it was Atherton who saved his best for last as he scored eight of his team's last 10 points en route to a game-high 18-point night. Blackstone-Millville led 57-51 with 3:52 left when Atherton and teammate Chris Tattrie (17 points, 9 rebounds) keyed the Hopedale comeback.

The duo scored two hoops each to send the Raiders on an 8-2 run that was capped by a Atherton layup to knot the score at 59 with 1:02 left. With thirty seconds left BMR had the ball with a chance for the lead, but Tim Mooradian forced the Chargers' Jeff Levasseur to miss a layup and grabbed the rebound.

DESERVED IT

Mooradian fed Atherton on the ensuing possesion to set the stage for his free throws.

"They deserved the win," said BMR coach Brad Monroe. "They dominated the inside at the end and made the two free throws. It wasn't a matter of us playing poorly, they just played better at the end."

And it was BMR that played fantastic in the beginning jumping out to a 15-4 lead four minutes in behind the three-point shooting of Brian LaRoche (14 points) and the shifty play of point guard Adam Dumais (12 points).

But Hopedale came back as Atherton, Tattrie and Matt McNabb (12 points) provided the offense that allowed the Raiders to cut the Charger lead to two at the half, 33-31.

"This is a very prestigious tournament and we are very pleased to have won the Small School title," said Klocek. "We look forward to it every year and will hopefully be here again next year."

He'll just have to find a new "go-to guy.'

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HOPEDALE SQUEAKS IN

Sandy Burgin
February 20, 1991

"Save me a seat," said Nipmuc's Eric Usher to his cousin, Hopedale's Tim Mooradian, as he was leaving the press conference at the Clark Tournament last night.

Mooradian, a 6-foot-2 junior, made sure his cousin and the rest of the Nipmuc Warriors would be sitting down the rest of the week as he scored 28 points to escort Hopedale to a thrilling, 63-60 victory in a Small Schools semifinal.

The Blue Raiders (15-4), who had lost two previous games to their Dual Valley Conference rivals, will play for the title at 7:45 p.m. Friday against another conference rival, Blackstone-Millville, a team it beat twice during the regular season.

OWN PLAYGROUND

Mooradian turned the Kneller Athletic Center into his own personal playground in the second half as he scored 16 points, including 9 of his team's final 11.

The other two points came from Jason Bucell, who canned two pressure free throws with 18 seconds left with the Blue Raiders leading, 60-59. "I just wanted my legs to stop shaking," said Bucell, who hit both ends of a one-and-one.

"I didn't think it was really over until that final buzzer sounded," said Mooradian, who watched Pat Sullivan's 3-point attempt for Nipmuc go awry at the buzzer.

WANTED THE BALL

"I just wanted wanted the ball in the second half," said Mooradian. "The last time we played Nipmuc, they used a triangle-and-two and I had only five points. I wanted to redeem myself and help the team at the same time.

"My cousin (Eric Usher) didn't really give me the business over his team beating us twice because I think he realized just how hard it would be for them to beat us a third time."

"I think we were hoping that they would be looking over their shoulder," said Usher. "Instead, they were looking ahead and they're going on."

Mooradian had an answer for every Nipmuc counterattack. After the Warriors' Kyle Wood drained a 3-pointer to tie it at 52-52 with 4:08 left, Mooradian went coast-to-coast for a driving layup to put the Blue Raiders back on top.

FREE THROWS

Sullivan hit a pair of free throws to knot the game again before Mooradian hit a short jumper for a 57-55 lead.

After Usher completed a 3-point play with three minutes left, giving Nipmuc a 58-57 lead, Mooradian came right down and hit a baseline jumper to put the Blue Raiders back on top. With a little over a minute left, he came through with a another great drive and basket to make it 61-58.

Nipmuc's Greg Gorman pulled Nipmuc to within one with 42 seconds left, but Bucell got the 3-point cushion back with his clutch free throws.

HAD BIG LEADS

Hopedale also got 13 points and 6 rebounds from Chris Tattrie, and 7 points and 8 rebounds from Shawn Atherton.

In its two losses to Nipmuc, Hopedale had leads of 19 and 12. Last night it was Nipmuc that built a lead (23-19) on the hot shooting of Jeremy Harvey (14 points) and Sullivan (12 points). However, Tattrie and Mooradian sparked an 11-2 run that got the Blue Raiders to within five at halftime.

"We had been very tentative early on and were playing not to lose, instead of playing to win," said Hopedale coach Don Klocek. "Nipmuc is the best perimeter-shooting team I've seen. We did a a good job on them tonight."

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HOPEDALE MOVES UP
BLUE RAIDERS LEAD ALL THE WAY AND OUTLAST

Bill Doyle
February 18, 1991

Chris Tattrie succeeded in not looking ahead to playing Nipmuc. But he couldn't help but look back.

Tattrie scored a game-high 16 points to pace Hopedale past Uxbridge, 54-47, yesterday afternoon in the opening round of the 52nd annual Clark Tournament.

Sixth-seeded Hopedale, 14-4, will play second-seeded Nipmuc, 17-1, at 6 p.m. tomorrow in the Small School Division semifinals.

Hopedale lost two regular-season games to Nipmuc this year, wasting leads of 12 points in one of them and 19 in the other. So the Blue Raiders wanted desperately to get another shot at the Warriors. But first they had to beat a tough Uxbridge squad.

The Blue Raiders held a seemingly confortable 48-36 lead with 2:30 left, but missed the front ends of a couple of one-and-ones. David O'Toole and Chris Shaw promptly hit a pair of threes to pull Uxbridge to within five with 1:27 left.

"Those Nipmuc games flashed in the back of my mind for a second," admitted Tattrie, a 6-foot-5 junior.

Tim Mooradian cut short any Uxbridge comeback hopes by sinking three foul shots in a nine-second span and Hopedale hung on to win.

The taller Blue Raiders outrebounded Uxbridge, 31-22. Shawn Atherton, a 6-3 senior, had 12 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Mooradian also had 12 points despite 3-for-22 shooting.

Marc Calarese had 12 points, all in the first half, to keep Uxbridge within two at the break, 26-24. Matt McNabb's defense helped blank Calarese after intermission.

The Spartans tried to work the ball inside, but the taller Blue Raiders forced 21 Uxbridge turnovers.

"I don't think we looked for the jumper enough," said Uxbridge coach Mark Donahue. "When it was there, we didn't take it."

Tattrie's basket gave Hopedale a 2-0 lead 25 seconds into the game and the Blue Raiders never trailed. His layups began and capped an 8-0 run to put Hopedale up, 48-36, with 2:38 to go.

Now Hopedale can look ahead to Nipmuc. "You'd rather have three swings at the plate than two," said Hopedale coach Don Klocek.